The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
After playing in a 2-ball tournament on July 15, I realized I'm a better player from the left side. I told this to my great instructor and he was curious to see how I swung. We worked on my alignment from that side. I think I impressed him with my swing. I've also impressed him with my progress Ð he just wants me to hit the driving range to practice. After my first lesson I thought about getting the book Golfing for Dummies, which I noticed in Curt's office. It could still come in handy. I wonder if the library has a copy? Friday's lesson was a cinch! Okay, maybe I shouldn't get too cocky, but it made a lot of sense. Curt's tips: Proper alignment is critical to a good golf swing. I'm not surprised Ð a lot of things seem to be critical to it. Pick an intermediate target just in front of you that is in alignment with the actual target to aim your club face at. Establish an imaginary target line that runs through your ball to the actual target and align your feet, knees, hips and shoulders parallel to that imaginary line. Curt's suggestion is that you should find something four to five feet in front of you that you can aim your club face at. Take the proper stance (previous lesson) and ready yourself to make a swing. You should now be set up to hit the ball at the actual target. Doing this was news to me. What's interesting is that during previous times I played, I have done this. To me though, it was about playing it safe. This is especially true if I wasn't hitting the ball well. For example, if I was hitting the ball to the right all the time, I would just go the opposite way and hope the ball would land in the middle of the fairway. I don't encourage trying this. I'm sure Curt would say the same thing. A key tip he gave me is to use two clubs as railroad tracks. One club goes in the area of my imaginary line, and the other sits parallel directly in front of my feet. Curt said doing this will make it habit. I can't wait to hit the links again!
